Chromastratigraphy® and Chromalog®

Organic geochemistry focuses on chemical transformations of biological materials in rocks and the cyclic flow of individual elements (and their compounds) between living and nonliving systems.

ChromaStratigraphy® and ChromaLog® analysis are proprietary techniques (U.S. patent 8416413) for lithologic formation logging and identification through accurate measurement of the color of geologic samples.

Numerous tools and techniques exist that provide information about rocks and minerals that might be encountered, ranging from direct chemical analysis to remote sensing of a multitude of physical rock parameters. Analyses of rock samples can be performed in an onsite or distant laboratory, or measurements can be taken remotely with tools lowered into holes or wells drilled into the rock or sediment. Some techniques are quite simple, and others are very expensive and complicated. For example, some tools and techniques measure different parameters, measure them using different methods or from different locations, analyze the measured data in different ways, and present the results of analysis in a variety of formats. Nevertheless, all of these tools and techniques work together to provide various properties and/or attributes of information that a trained person can use to identify, understand, and correlate specific rocks and minerals.

When describing a rock or mineral, not all of the information that a geologist might use is easily quantifiable. Geologic descriptions are commonly full of qualitative terminology and assessments. A geologist might use words such as “sandy,” “shaley,” “greenish,” “gray,” or “translucent” that may describe the grain size, texture, color, and so forth. The geologist might further qualify such descriptions with various modifiers—such as “light” or “dark,” to better describe the specific way a rock sample appears to an observer. Whereas the human eye is good at seeing fine details and discriminating subtle distinctions of texture and color, the human brain is not good at converting these fine distinctions into language that can be easily and clearly understood by another person with the same level of detail as the observer's eye. In addition, the brain cannot retain an image with enough detail to unequivocally determine if one sample is identical to another sample previously observed. Geologists, therefore, are not always able to easily and/or accurately quantify information observed during the study of rocks and mineralogy. Attempts at more systematic methods have relied upon descriptive systems, such as Munsell Soil Color Charts. Without graphical or numerical methods to display the data, it is difficult to identify and see patterns.